Atomizing and dispensing apparatus



ATOMIZING AND DISPENSHVG APPARATUS Santy M. Croce, Hauppauge, N. Y., assignor to Coty, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application March 29, 1954, Serial No. 419,440

11 Claims. (Cl. 299-86) This invention relates to dispensing apparatus and more particularly to improvements in atomizers. This application is a continuation in part of my prior application Serial No. 259,218, filed November 30, 1951, now Patent No. 2,689,150.

In my prior application I disclosed a pressurized dispenser which comprised a glass container for a liquid such as perfume and a reservoir of gas under pressure disposed within the glass container and having a valve outlet cooperating with a tube immersed in the liquid so as to cause such liquid to be dispensed from the tube by a Venturi action. The gas reservoir was of metallic or other non-frangible substance so as to minimize dangers of explosion while the liquid in the container itself was free of the gas pressure. Accordingly, even should the glass container drop and break, there would be no explosive action because the gas would still be enclosed in its protective reservoir.

The instant application discloses a structure such as disclosed in my prior application save that the entire gas chamber or reservoir is incorporated in a bottle cap. In fact, the user may not even be aware that any source of gas pressure exists in the device. The device is further simple in construction and this effects considerable manufacturing economies.

The invention will be further understood from the following description and drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the atomizer as applied to the neck of a conventional perfume bottle, the atomizer being shown in the closed position;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view of the atomizer in the open or dispensing position;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view as taken along the line 33 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view as taken along the line 44 of Figure 2.

A conventional bottle body 1, shown fraginentarily, is provided with a threaded neck 2. The bottle may be of glass, plastic, or any other suitable material. A cap 3 is provided with a central opening 4 which is threaded for engagement with the bottle neck threads. Thus, cap 3 is of substantially annular form. It is further hollow so as to define an annular chamber 5 in which is housed a quantity of gas under pressure. As for the type of gas, the art is well aware of conventional propellant gases such as employed in so-called aerosols. Cap 3 may be fabricated of any suitable air-tight material such as metal or even of an incompressible plastic such as nylon of a gauge adequate to resist deformation by the gas pressure. The cap is provided with a filler opening which is normally maintained closed by a nut 3a, such closure permitting the chamber 5 to be charged with the propellant gas.

The top face of cap 3 is provided with a discharge passage 6 which, in the form shown, in horizontal and terminates in a discharge nozzle 7 at one end, the other end communicating with the chamber 5.

I led States Patent 0 2,733,102 Patented Jan. 31, 1956 The cap 3 is further formed with a central Opening 8 formed at one end by the circular neck 9 and at the other end by the tube 10 which depends downwardly from the top wall of opening 4. Opening 8 thus communicates with discharge passage 6. Tube 10 serves as a plug for the neck of the bottle.

An elongated valve body 11 is slidably disposed in opening 8. Valve body 11 is provided with an operating knob 12 at one end, the opposite, lower end being attached to a conventional wick 13 which is of a length to be immersed in the liquid to be dispensed, usually to the bottom of the bottle. Valve body 11 is formed with a transverse opening 14 which is adapted to be interposed in alignment with passage 6 when the atomizer is used. As will be shown hereinafter, the dispensing action is of the Venturi type, opening 14 being preferably, but not necessarily, of frusto-conical form with the truncated apexes joined as illustrated. Valve body 11 is further formed with a pair of projecting pins 15 which are slidable in vertical grooves 16 of tube 10 so as to serve as a guide and upper limit in the sliding action of the valve body.

Valve body 11 is further formed with a central opening 17 which extends from the lower end thereof up to the transverse opening 14. It is also formed with a vertical, peripheral groove 18 in the outer wall thereof which serves as an air vent, said groove communicating at its upper end with the outside atmosphere. In the normal or closed position of the atomizer, air vent 18 does not extend below the lower end of tube 111 so that the bottle is adequately sealed during periods of nonuse. In addition, in order to shield the interior of the bottle from the air vent during periods of non-use, a circular flange 19 is formed on valve body 11.

Within opening 8, a pair of gaskets 20 and 21 are provided so as to permit the sliding action without gas leakage. A coil spring 22 is disposed between the knob 12 and the top face of cap 3 so as to maintain the knob 12 and the valve body 11 in the normal, closed position.

The device of the instant invention operates as follows:

When the valve is closed, the gas in chamber 5 cannot escape, the passage 6 being blocked by the valve body 11 and the opening 14 being disposed in the neck 9 as illustrated in Figure 1. When the knob 12 is depressed against the action of spring 22, the pins 15 sliding downwardly in the groove 16, opening 14 is brought into registration or communication with passage 6. The height of neck 9 may serve as a stop for proper positioning of opening 14 in the open position. The gas in chamber 5 then rushes through passage 6, including opening 14, and out of discharge nozzle 7. This creates a Venturi action wherein a decrease in pressure is produced in tube 17 so as to draw up the liquid and cause it to be expelled through discharge nozzle 7 together with the propellant gas. The particular formation of the opening 14 as above described assists in the efiiciency of the Venturi action.

At the same time that the spring is depressed to bring the openings 14 and 6 in registration, the vent opening 18 is brought below the tube 10 so as to provide a vent for any pressure built up within the container and for the usual vent purposes when liquid is removed from a closed container. When, however, the valve body is returned to the normal closed position shown in Figure l, the vent 18 is withdrawn within tube 10 so as to prevent evaporation of the bottle contents. Further, the flange 19 provides a further guard against any such evaporation.

As will be noted in Figures 2 and 4, the outer extent or diameter of both sides of opening 14 is greater than the diameter of passage 6 in order to insure that propellant gas is directed entirely through opening 14 and further to improve the Venturi action.

It will be evident that the propellant gas is effectively disassociated from the liquid except insofar as it is employed to produce a decrease in pressure above the tube 17. The liquid in the container 1 is not otherwise subject to the action or influence of the propellant gas so that dropping of the article and breaking of the bottle will in no way risk an explosion. The cap 3 being nonfrangible, any danger of breakage thereof is extremely remote.

The cap and chamber, being at the top end of the bottle and resting on the body of the bottle, is sturdily supported thereby and does not interfere with handling of the bottle nor does it visually obscure the bottle or its contents.

What is claimed is:

1. An atomizer comprising a cap for a bottle having a body containing liquid which is to be dispensed in atomized form, said cap having a chamber formed therein and adapted to house a quantity of propellant gas under pressure, means on said chamber for connecting it to the top end of the bottle so that it rests wholly above the bottle body, a plug on said cap and adapted to be connected to the bottle outlet, said plug having an opening therethrough forming a first passage, said cap being formed with a second passage communicating with said chamber, a manually actuable valve member disposed in one of said passages, said valve member normally blocking said passages from each other and being formed with an opening for establishing communication between said passages when the valve member is moved from a normal position thereof, said first passage extending downwardly and entering the bottle when the cap is connected thereto whereby gas flowing through said second passage will create a decrease of pressure in said first passage and draw fluid upwardly therein so as to dispense it from said second passage by the action of said gas.

2. An atomizer comprising a cap for a bottle having a neck and a body and containing liquid which is to be dispensed in atomized form, said cap having a chamber formed therein and adapted to house a quantity of propellant gas under pressure, means on said chamber for connecting it to the bottle neck so that it rests wholly above the body of the bottle, a plug on said cap and adapted to be inserted into the bottle neck, said plug having an opening therethrough, a valve member slidably disposed in said opening and formed with a first passage centrally thereof, said cap being formed with a second passage communicating with said chamber, means on said cap normally blocking said passages from each other, said valve member being formed with an opening communicating with said first passage and adapted to register with said second passage when said valve member is moved from a normal, closed position thereof to an open position thereof, a spring urging said valve member into said normal, closed position where its said opening is out or" registration with said second passage, said first passage extending downwardly and entering the bottle when the cap is connected thereto whereby gas flowing through said second passage will create a decrease of pressure in said first passage and draw liquid upwardly therein so as to dispense it from said second passage by the action of said gas.

3. An atomizer comprising a cap for a bottle having a neck and containing liquid which is to be dispensed in atomized form, said cap having an annular chamber formed therein and adapted to house a quantity of propellant gas under pressure, said annular chamber defining a central opening adapted to engage the neck of the bottle, a plug on said cap within said central opening and adapted to be inserted into the bottle neck, said plug having an opening therethrough, a valve memberslidably disposed in said opening and formed with a first CII passage centrally thereof, said cap being formed with a second passage communicating with said chamber, means on said cap normally blocking said passages from each other, said valve member being formed with an opening communicating with said first passage and adapted to register with said second passage when said valve member is moved from a normal, closed position thereof to an open position thereof, a spring urging said valve member into said normal, closed position where its said opening is out of registration with said second passage, said first passage extending downwardly and entering the bottle when the cap is connected thereto whereby gas flowing through said second passage will create a decrease of pressure in said first passage and draw liquid upwardly therein so as to dispense it from said second passage by the action of said gas.

4. An atomizer according to claim 3 and wherein said second passage is formed transversely of said cap at the upper end thereof and terminates in a discharge nozzle at the side of the cap, said valve member opening which communicates with said first passage extending transversely of the valve member and being normally maintained by said spring at a vertical level which is higher than the vertical level of said second passage.

5. An atomizer according to claim 4 and including a neck formed on said cap, said transverse valve member opening being normally disposed in said neck and being downwardly displaceable therefrom by moving said valve member against the action of said spring.

6. An atomizer according to claim 5 and wherein said valve member comprises an elongated body and is further formed with a vent passage peripherally thereof.

7. An atomizer according to claim 6 and including an actuating knob formed on the upper end of said valve body, and said vent passage normally terminating within said plug, said valve body being snugly slidable in said plug, said vent passage extending out of said plug in the open position of said valve body.

8. An atomizer according to claim 7 and wherein said transverse valve member opening is in the form of two frusto-conical openings the truncated apexes of which are back-to-back, and the base diameters of which are greater than the diameter of said second passage.

9. An atomizer comprising a cap for a bottle having a neck and containing liquid to be dispensed in atomized form, said cap being of non-frangible material and having a chamber of annular form adapted to surround the bottle neck when the cap is applied to the bottle, said chamber housing a quantity of propellant gas under pressure, a hollow plug on said cap disposed centrally of said chamber and adapted to be inserted into the bottle neck, an elongated valve body slidably disposed within said plug, a spring normally maintaining said valve body in an elevated position, a knob on said valve body for depressing it against the action of said spring, said valve body being formed with a vertical passage extending into the interior of said bottle when the cap is applied thereto, said cap being formed with a horizontal passage communicating with said chamber and formed with a discharge nozzle, said valve body being formed with a transverse opening communicating with said vertical passage and normally maintained out of communication with said horizontal passage by said spring, said transverse opening being brought into communication with said horizontal passage when said knob is depressed whereby gas flowing through said horizontal passage and transverse opening will create a drop in pressure in said vertical passage and draw liquid upwardly from a bottle to which the cap is applied and dispense it from said discharge nozzle by the action of said gas.

10. An atomizer according to claim 9 and wherein the inner wall of said annular chamber is threaded so as to engage complementary threads on said bottle neck, said valve body being formed with a vertical, peripheral groove normally terminating within the plug and blocked from the interior of the bottle, said groove descending downwardly with the valve body when depressed so that the lower end thereof communicates with the interior of the bottle, the upper end thereof being in communication with the outside atmosphere.

11. The combination with a bottle having liquid therein to be dispensed in atomized form, of a cap therefor, said cap having a chamber formed therein housing a quantity of propellant gas under pressure, a plug on said cap connected to the bottle outlet, said chamber resting on said bottle at the top end thereof, said plug having an opening therethrough forming a first passage, said cap being formed with a second passage communicating with said chamber, a manually actuable valve member disposed in one of said passages, said valve member normally blocking said passages from each other and being formed with an opening for establishing communication between said References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,920,165 Andvig Aug. 1, 1933 2,546,808 Wood Mar. 27, 1951 2,635,921 Deutseh Apr. 21, 1953 

